Boris Johnson at an official dinner at the V&A museum, London, following talks with France.
Photograph: Peter Nicholls/PA

Boris Johnson has floated the idea of a 22-mile bridge across the Channel to enhance transport links with France after Brexit.

The foreign secretary discussed the issue with Emmanuel Macron, the French president, at the Anglo-French summit, saying it was “ridiculous” that two of the world’s biggest economies are linked by a single railway line.

Macron is understood to have responded positively with an agreement that a second link should be built.

At the gathering at Sandhurst military college in Berkshire, Theresa May and Macron held talks alongside their senior ministers.

Quick guide

All you need to know about Anglo-French trade

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Which country is 'on top'?

Roughly £71bn of goods and services were traded between the two countries in 2016. France has the upper hand: the UK exported £33.8bn to France but imported £37.6bn. Exports to France have fallen by about 9% over the last decade, while imports are roughly flat. France is Britain's third-largest export market.

What gets traded?

There is an appreciation on both sides of the Channel for what each country does well: Britain is the largest importer of champagne, while more than 28m Harry Potter books have gone the other way. France is the second biggest European food exporter to the UK and accounts for 20% of dairy imports. There were more than 500 French restaurants in Britain in 2017, 54 of them in the Michelin Guide. Among the most common UK exports are cars, chemicals and financial services. France is a big exporter of aircraft, machinery and cars.

Living and working

About 150,000 British citizens live in France, while 155,000 French nationals are settled in the UK. Banking is the most common type of employment for French people in Britain, with the vast majority of them living in London and the south-east; there are 15 accredited French schools in the UK, 13 of which are in London. Roughly a quarter of all British citizens in France live in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in western France.

Tourism

The French make about 4m visits a year to the UK, making them the number one nationality of foreign visitors. About 11 million tourists visit France every year from the UK, more than from any other country.

Business links

More than 1,000 subsidiaries of British companies were based in France in 2014, generating 195,000 jobs. French companies with major operations in Britain include the energy giant EDF and the utilities firm Veolia.

Angela Monaghan

Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

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Macron has offered to loan Britain the Bayeux tapestry as a gesture of friendship, and suggested the UK and France were “making a new tapestry together” with their range of bilateral agreements across culture, security, art and trade.

Later, Johnson tweeted a picture of himself and Macron both giving a thumbs-up sign, captioned: “En marche! Great meetings with French counterparts today.”

He also tweeted: “I’m especially pleased we are establishing a panel of experts to look at major projects together. Our economic success depends on good infrastructure and good connections. Should the Channel Tunnel be just a first step?”

Johnson has previously promoted the idea of another Channel Tunnel but is now said to think a bridge could also be possible, telling aides that such feats of engineering have been achieved in Japan.

It was revealed last year in a book about the election, by Sunday Times political editor Tim Shipman, that Johnson was keen on a road tunnel linking Britain and France under the Channel to cement the countries’ relationship after Brexit. He was said to have abandoned the idea after being talked out of it by his former aide Will Walden.

Quick guide

Boris Johnson's errors of judgment

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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Boris Johnson said that the British-Iranian citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, convicted of spying in Iran, was “simply teaching people journalism” – a statement her family and her employer both said was untrue. His comments were subsequently cited as proof that she was engaged in “propaganda against the regime”.

'Dead bodies'

After Johnson suggested that the Libyan city of Sirte might become a new Dubai once “the dead bodies” were removed, Downing Street said it was not “an appropriate choice of words”.

Johnson apologised after causing a “livid” reaction in a worshipper in a Sikh temple in Bristol by discussing his enthusiasm for ending tariffs on whisky traded between the UK and India. Alcohol is forbidden under some Sikh teachings.

Continental drift

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